It should be no surprise with the entire team struggling out of the gate, but there's some pressure on Rangers' second-line center Derek Stepan.

And he knows it.

After a night against the Flyers in which he had a chance in the second period to put one in the back of the net, the 22-year-old said he needs to "step up and score a goal."

"I'm blessed with an opportunity to play, and the biggest thing is now that I'm getting these minutes is that I score a goal," Stepan said, via The Post's Brett Cyrgalis. "I want to try to help out in a positive way rather than just play the big minutes."

He's received high praise from a Rangers legend: Adam Graves watched Stepan develop after playing with Derek's father Brad in the 1980s, according to The Daily News' Pat Leonard. "After the first half of the first scrimmage, (Stepan) had scored a goal, had an assist and was in on every play, and it just hit you: He has excellent hockey skills, understands the game at both ends," Graves told Leonard. "It was certainly an 'I get it' moment. Wow, this kid has a real hockey sense to him."

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• The Rangers' power play continues to be a focus as the Blueshirts only scored twice with a man advantage. "We had a hard time getting the puck in the zone to start with, and we set it up and passed it around, and we had a couple of good looks from the side there. But in that situation, you want to try to get as many pucks in the net as we can, and we didn't do that," Ryan Callahan said, according to Newsday's Steve Zipay.

• The Record's Andrew Gross looked at the depth problems that appear to plague the Blueshirts. He provided two solutions to the problem: "The first is that [Chris] Kreider develops quickly and second-year player Carl Hagelin starts contributing. He's gone a staggering 33 games without a goal, including last spring's three playoff rounds," he wrote. "The second is that [Glen] Sather dips into his defense depth and acquires a forward."